Soviets Overcome Mistakes, Beat the Stench in Overtime

Ninety seconds into overtime on Tuesday night, Pat King tapped home a cross crease pass from Mark Hendricks, winning the game in dramatic fashion. Until that point, it seemed likely that the Red Army would be dropping to 1-3 on the season. Thanks to their explosive offense though, the Comrades were able to avenge poor defensive lapses and earn the coveted bonus point in the extra session.

"We're clicking as a unit right now," Tony Horton said. "When we have the puck we're talking and reading each other. It's fun to work out there, I feel like when we have the puck we're going to score."

The scoring was started with the Labia line. Since being reunited in the playoffs last season, the trio has yet to cool off. Ben Breiterman took a pass from Hendricks and opened the scoring with a high wrist shot.

"I took a page out of Pat's book and ordered top shelf," Breiterman said. "Laaaaaaaaaaaaaabia!"

After allowing two Cryptic Stench goals, the trio hooked up again to tie the score. After Hendricks' shot went high, King knocked the rebound in after it caromed off the lively end boards.

"Not the prettiest goal I've ever scored but it counts," joked king. "I think we've been doing a better job of creating chances when other options are closed. All that trekking through the snow in uncharted territories opened up my mind to new ways to score."

The see-saw game continued, with the Stench usually pulling ahead and the Soviets storming back. Hendricks tallied three times in the second period (his second natural hat trick in as many games) and Breiterman also scored once, but even a four goal middle frame was not enough to take the lead into the final period.

"The defense was killing us," Jamie Simek said. "I think we kept making the same mistakes. It was like Groundhog's Day, only without Bill Murray."

"We'll definitely have to look at tape tomorrow to see what we have to do to become better at clearing our zone, it's been pretty bad out there," Brian Lynch said.

"Bear Cavalry!" Brad Lotocki yelled, driving his BMW into a snow bank imagining that his car was in fact, a rhinoceros.

The porous defense led to some shaky goaltending, and Andy Schram, who is a hard judge on himself, did not mince his words when talking about... himself.

"Not my best game," goalie Schram said afterward. "I let in a few soft ones. Sure, some of them were tough to stop and they did get a slew of odd man rushes, but I can be better. I can be faster. I can be stronger. I can be anything Kanye wants me to be. But seriously, it was nice to be bailed out by the offense."

Schram, who routinely bailed out his team in last season's miraculous playoff run, was most likely referring to a goal he allowed on a weak wrist shot from just inside the red line. The shot dipped on him in the last second and snuck between his pads. His off night did not worry others though.

"Everyone has good game and bad games," Captain Steve Hand said. "He'll shake it off. He's doing it right now. Look, see him shaking? He's shaking it off."

King scored early in the third on the power play to tie the game, but the Soviets would allow two more goals and have to climb back once more from a 9-7 deficit. Horton tipped in a shot with five minutes to play, and with just under two minutes, Hendricks scored his 4th of the night on a wrist shot in tight, setting the stage for overtime.

"There is no way that I'm letting Ben beat me in points this season," Hendricks said, refusing to comment on anything related to the game except the battle with him and his defensive teammate. "If he thinks he can go point for point with me, then, well, he's got another thing coming."

Added Hendricks, "And it's not a pass!"

That's it from the 'Plex for tonight, I have to catch a flight out to Vancouver in the morning so I can cover the Olympics. As you know, a few of the Red Army players are suiting up to play in the international stage, so it should make for some interesting drama. I did manage to catch Scott Hoefer leaving the arena after tonight's game and I asked him what he thought his team's (Germany) chances were. He only responded, "Darka Kow", but he said it angrily.

In case you needed reminding, the players suiting up for the olympics are:
Ben Breiterman: Israel
Brian "Beege" Hendricks: Sweden
Mark Hendricks: Ireland
Scott Hoefer: Germany
Pat King: Ireland
Brad Lotocki: The Alps
Jamie Simek: Japan

I'll have more later. Preliminaries start on Wednesday.

THREE STARS:
3: Pat King
2: Ben Breiterman
1: Mark Hendricks